The Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan Buddhism Inheriting the Past and Inspiring the Future Master Sheng Yen CONTENTS Introduction 07 My Commitment and Life’s Mission 11 Inheriting the Past and Inspiring the Future 27 The Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan Buddhism 89 About the Author : Master Sheng Yen 91 Appendix CONTENTS 3 Introduction his booklet is a compilation of six discourses delivered Tby Master Sheng Yen over a two-year period to his monastic Sangha at Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan. They have been collected and published here because of their historical importance. They include the Master’s vision of the mission of Dharma Drum, and clarify the origin, purpose, and aim of his newly established Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan Buddhism. Four recorded talks appear in this booklet in their en- tirety; these were delivered on September 23 and 24, and October 7 and 21, 2004. Excerpts from two additional dis- courses were added to form this booklet. The first appears here as “My Commitment and Life’s Mission,” from a talk given in the latter part of April, 2006; the second appears as “Inheriting the Past and Inspiring the Future,” and it comes from a talk given at a retreat at Dharma Drum Mountain on February 21, 2006. Introduction 5 Three monastic disciples, Guo Che, Guo Jian, and Chang Yan, edited this booklet in July, 2006 in Chinese. Mr. Wee Keat Ng prepared the initial English translation. Guo Gu edited, retranslated and added the footnotes, which version was edited in English by Harry Miller and David Berman. During the long illness preceding his death in February, 2009, Master Sheng Yen made significant preparations to se- cure the long-term health of the institutions he founded, and to clarify and contextualize his many contributions to our understanding of the teachings of Chan. The talks presented here were a part of those efforts; it is our hope that the tea- chings they contain will serve as a principle guide for the Dharma Drum Lineage to spread the wisdom and compas- sion of Chan Buddhism in the world. 6 The Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan Buddhism My Commitment and Life’s Mission eople often criticize Chinese Buddhism for its lack of Psystemization in doctrine and practice. They further criticize it as contrary to the teachings of the Āgamas and Madhyamaka1. As a result, many Chinese Buddhists are even reluctant to study Chinese Buddhism in a serious manner. But such criticism has its origin in a poor and incomplete understanding of Chinese Buddhist history, doctrine, and practice. If Chinese Buddhism really lacked order and coherence, how has it flourished for over two thousand years? I have devoted my whole life to the study of Chan, Pure Land, vinaya (Buddhist codes of conduct), and even esoteric Buddhism. My studies have not simply been an idle accumu- lation of facts. Rather, I study buddhadharma for the sake of actualizing it; I study Indian and Chinese forms of Buddhism for the sake of making them relevant to a modern society, so people today will have the opportunity to understand, appre- ciate, and use the wisdom of buddhadharma. This is my com- mitment and life’s mission. My Commitment and Life’s Mission 7 All forms of the buddhadharma have a single flavor—the flavor of liberation. Indian and Chinese Buddhist masters have studied, practiced, and actualized buddhadharma and transmitted their wisdom and experience down to us through their writings. Their words nourish us. Because I am Chinese, I value the received treasures of the Chinese Buddhist tradi- tion. I founded the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies for this reason. Our paradigm model is: “To be fully estab- lished in the Chinese Buddhist tradition, but to have a global vision for Buddhism as a whole.” If we do not stand by our own received tradition, so that our words resonate with the wisdom and experience of untold generations, to speak of globalizing or modernizing Buddhism is simply unrealistic. How is it possible for others to respect us if we are unable to define our position? Because the legitimacy and value of Chinese Buddhism has been called into question, some wish to modify it to accord with Indian and Tibetan forms of Buddhism. I have inherited the wisdom from the Indian traditions, and affirm the strength of Tibetan tradition, of course, but my foun- dation is built on Chinese Buddhism. Th­­e strength of Chinese Buddhism lies in its ability to absorb, embrace, adapt, and 8 The Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan Buddhism adjust to the needs of people everywhere. I see the textual traditions of ancient Indian Buddhism and the contempo- rary practice of Tibetan Buddhism as reference sources for furthering the modernization of Chinese Buddhism. Some people use Indian Buddhism and other Buddhist traditions to judge and correct Chinese Buddhism. This approach can only lead to the death of Chinese Buddhism, which would indeed be a great loss to humanity and for Buddhism as a whole. Human civilization inevitably advances forward. There are definite conditions and logical causes in this process of evo- lution. If we attempted to somehow return to some “original form of Buddhism,” then would we not have to abandon all the historical development of the various early schools of Buddhism that led to Early Buddhism and Mahāyāna Bud- dhism? Excerpted from the preface to the Chinese volume, A Reading Guide to the Four Treatises of the Tiantai School, written in April, 2006 1 In contemporary times the reasons that Chinese Buddhism, and Chan Buddhism in particular, are judged in light of these two forms of Indian Buddhism are undoubtedly complex but can be traced back to the impact of Master Yinshun 印 順 (1906-2005), the modern Chinese Buddhist scholar monk. For more infor- mation about his thought, see below. Only one of his books is translated into English; see Yinshun, The Way to Buddhahood (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1998). My Commitment and Life’s Mission 9 Inheriting the Past and Inspiring the Future harma Drum Mountain (DDM) is an inheritor of the D past and an inspiration for the future. People today have a strong sense of self; they have an overwhelming ten- dency to develop their talents in pursuit of their own ambi- tions. Of course, this kind of behavior will help ensure the continuity of society. But if such efforts totally break with the past, then they should not be encouraged. In the sciences, innovation is usually achieved only at the expense of received traditions and perspectives. However, human history and culture are continuously built on the values of the past. It is a process of inheriting the past and inspiring the future. New paths are realized from the wisdom of our predecessors. This is especially true for Buddhists. If we were to disregard the wisdom of the Buddha and lineage masters to create a new form of Buddhism, then what we created would essentially not be Buddhism at all, but a new religion. Inheriting the Past and Inspiring the Future 11 In September 2004, I delivered four lectures to all DDM monastics on the following topics: (1) Buddhism, (2) Evolving forms of Buddhism, (3) Chinese Buddhism, which is also referred to as the “Buddhism of the Han people,” and (4) the Chan tradition within Chinese Buddhism. Moreover, I also spoke on the convergence of DDM Chan Buddhism with the modern world, making DDM Chan Buddhism a mainstay in mainstream global Buddhism. After Śākyamuni Buddha’s nirvā a, his teachings contin- ued to evolve in India into the various schools of Hīnayāna Buddhism1 and Mahāyāna schools of Madhyamaka, Yogācā- ra, and Tathāgatagarbha. “School” as used in this booklet does not mean distinct institutional establishment, but tradition of thought. From India, Buddhism spread and evolved into Southern Buddhism (i.e., present day Theravāda) in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar, and Northern Buddhism in East Asia and Tibet. Over the course of its development in China, Chinese Buddhism further evolved into eight or ten schools, including Chan.2 Chan Buddhism continued to evolve as well, but never strayed from the principles in the teachings of Śākyamuni. These principles can be found in such scriptures as the Sutra of Dependent Origination (Pratītya-samutpāda 12 The Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan Buddhism divibha ga-nirdeśa sūtra) and the Rice Stalk Sutra (Śālistamba- sūtra). In these texts, there are important proof texts that define the essential message of Śākyamuni, one of which is: “To see dependent origination is to see the Dharma; to realize the Dharma is to see the Buddha.” All the schools and tradi- tions of Buddhism are contingent on the teaching of depend- ent origination. Perceiving the nature of dependent origination is to awaken to the path, and awakening to the path is to see the Buddha. How did early Buddhist schools come to be? The original teachings adapted to a variety of local cultures and societies across Asia, each with its own needs, languages, and values. At first, there was nothing that was called either Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna. But the teachings evolved and became more dis- tinct, and a variety of regional schools came to be known as “Early Buddhism.”3 Mahāyāna is said to have evolved out of one such school.4 Has Chinese Buddhism strayed from Indian Buddhism? No. It evolved naturally from both Indian Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna traditions. However, Chinese Buddhism—and the tendency of modern Buddhist traditions—gravitated toward Inheriting the Past and Inspiring the Future 13 the Tathāgatagarbha school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Because the other Indian Mahāyāna traditions of Madhyamaka and Yogācāra were intellectually and dialectically oriented, they could not have been established as popular and practical forms of Buddhism.